As the jury continued to consider their verdict on Friday, Mr Trump called Mr Manafort a "very good person". Writing for Washington Monthly, Atkins said that the words were really an attempt to convince the jury - which has not been sequestered and could have seen or heard Trump's words - to find Manafort not guilty of the charges.

It's the first courtroom test of the ongoing Russian Federation probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Prosecutors accused Manafort of hiding from United States tax authorities $16 million in money he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine to fund an opulent lifestyle and then lying to banks to secure $20 million in loans after his Ukrainian income dried up and he needed cash.

Trump spoke shortly after the jury in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. had begun its second day of deliberations. Ellis responded that prosecutors had to prove their case beyond "doubt based on reason" - not "beyond a possible doubt".

The question Thursday does not necessarily indicate that the jury as a whole is grappling with doubts about Manafort's guilt and whether those doubts are reasonable.

Manafort was forced to step down from the Trump campaign when questions emerged about his work for Yanukovych.

Since the judge refused to give details about any of the threats, we don't know if they were coming from the left or the right, but most of the news the judge has made in this case has been for his criticism of the prosecutors.

In more than three decades on the bench, Ellis said he could recall only one or two cases in which he felt such concern for jurors' security.

Ellis read jurors the jury instruction that said a person must file FBARs when he or she "controls the disposition of money, funds or other assets held in a financial account by direct communications".

While the general rule is that juries reach a verdict on Friday so they won't have to return after the weekend, Rudolph said she now believed it was likely the trial would carry over into early next week.

One question asked for a redefinition of "reasonable doubt". A spokeswoman for the US Marshals Service did not immediately comment.